Best man, then top-12 in Ironman battle

Pilbara athlete Nathan Groch has proved he’s an ironman and the best man, stepping in to do the honours at a mate’s wedding just a weekend before competing in the Ironman 70.3 Sunshine Coast.

Groch mixed his responsibilities to the groom with some sporting prowess as he finished 11th out of 1162 competitors in the 1.9km swim, 90km cycle and 21.1km run held in Mooloolaba, Queensland on August 26.

“The weekend before the race I was best man at a mate’s wedding so actually had some downtime pre-race, which is normally not ideal but I think it worked out quite well for me,” he said.

Groch said he was sticking to the lead pack at the triathlon but ended up leading the second group during the cycle and run after being swamped by a wave halfway through the swim.

“There was 35 professional men starting so we had a dry start from the sands, a sprint off the beach into quite big swell and I managed to stick with the lead pack of guys for the majority of the swim,” he said.